How to exit full-screen mode on your Windows 10 computer in 3 different ways

Whether you want to examine an app or website in greater detail or you simply want to eliminate distractions from other apps or programs on your computer, using full-screen mode can really come in handy.

As the title implies, it makes the window or program you’re on take up the full area of your screen so that nothing else takes up space — making photos, videos, or text appear bigger and clearer.

When you want to exit full-screen mode, so that you can use your Windows computer as normal again for browsing the internet, reading emails, or opening multiple programs or files at once, toggling between full-screen mode and regular windows mode is quick and incredibly easy.

If you’re in full-screen mode on Windows 10 and want to get out of it, here are the ways you can do it.

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How to exit full-screen mode on your Windows 10 computer using the F11 key

Press the F11 key on your computer’s keyboard to exit full-screen mode. Note that pressing the key again will toggle you back to full-screen mode.

How to exit full-screen mode on your Windows 10 computer using the exit button

While in full-screen mode, swipe your mouse to the top of your screen until a small circle with an «X» appears in the top-left of your window. Click the «X» to exit full-screen mode.

How to exit full-screen mode on your Windows 10 computer using the escape key

In certain apps, pressing the «ESC» key on your keyboard can take you out of full-screen mode.

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VirtualBox – Exiting Scale or Full Screen Mode in Windows

When using VirtualBox you may at some point enter Scale or Full Screen Mode and then wonder how the hell you get out of it again and get your menu toolbar back!

Well the solution is very simple but not very clear. In the settings you will notice that mentioned a lot is the Host+(something) key. One of these key presses is to exit scale or full mode which is Host+C or you can use Host+Home to bring up the menu bar and then you can click the View menu option and change the settings.

But – what if you are using a Windows machine – what the hell is the Host key. Well, the Host key on a Windows machine is actually the Right Ctrl key (unless you have manually reconfigured the shortcut keys). So you can go ahead and press the Right Ctrl + C to exit these modes.

So what other Host key presses can I use in VirtualBox?

Well, below is a few key presses that you can use and some that you may want to avoid. We have seen people desperately pressing multiple keys to try and exit scale mode and ending up shutting their virtual machine down – usually followed by a number of expletives!

Name	Key Press
Host Key Combo	Right Ctrl
ACPI Shutdown	Right Ctrl+H
Adjust Windows Size	Right Ctrl+A
Full Screen Mode	Right Ctrl+F
Insert ALT-CTRL-DEL	Right Ctrl+Del
Minimise Window	Right Ctrl+M
Pop-Up Toolbar Menu	Right Ctrl+Home
Reset Virutal Machine	Right Ctrl+R
Scaled Mode	Right Ctrl+C
Seamless Mode	Right Ctrl+L
Settings	Right Ctrl+S
Take Screenshot	Right Ctrl+E
Take Snapshot	Right Ctrl+T

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Exit full screen mode

Press F11. If using a touch screen monitor or mouse, click on the unlock button in the top right hand corner of the start screen.

13 Comments

F11 , f or escape do not work for my laptop .. I have the toshiba windows touch screen laptop .. And everytime I full screen I have to sign out of my computer to get out of full screen . Please help !!

Triple click on the top left hand corner very quickly and it’ll exit full screen.

Try holding down the Fn key which is to the left of the windows key and press F11 this is how I change from full screen to small and back to full screen.

Lucy Martell, have you solved your problem? i have the same problem with a toshiba laptop. I just can’t get out of full screen when the laptop is in tablet mode. I triple clicked on the screen but nothing. Can somebody help me please??

Is it possible to choose how to get out of the ful screen mode on the software?

Hello, so is there different way to exit full screen mode? We are working on a touch screen booth. Thanks in advance

I think the best solution to this is extended monitor

Are you pressing them all the same time? Well, ctrl+alt+break works for me. Either esc or F11 does not.

I also got stuck in fullscreen mode in Windows 10. None of the suggestions here did the trick.

I eventually was able to exit with Windows Key + Down Arrow (minimize app). If you don’t have the ability to move the window with the title bar, try entering full screen again and use that key combo again. Hope that helps.

Switch to full screen mode on Windows 10 apps

• Games will usually run in fullscreen mode, but there might be some apps that don’t feature such an option. Learn how to fix that.
• Microsoft Edge only supports a maximizing option, not a fullscreen mode . F11 doesn’t work in Microsoft Edge but we have a solution below.
• Our Windows 10 Guides section is filled with how-to articles about Windows 10. Just take a look and bookmark the page.
• For a more general approach on the guides category, you should explore our Tech Tutorials Hub.

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Users of Windows 10 now have the option to toggle fullscreen mode for apps in Windows 10. Apps such as Netflix, Edge, or the Paint 3D feature controls for minimizing, maximizing, and closing the app window.

Games will usually run in fullscreen mode, but there might be some apps that don’t feature such an option. What should users do if they want to run a fullscreen app in window mode?

What’s the solution for running Edge in fullscreen mode, for instance?

How to full screen an app on Windows 10?

How to toggle fullscreen mode in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge only supports a maximizing option, not a fullscreen mode. F11 doesn’t work in Microsoft Edge and, as you browse through all the options, you aren’t going to find a solution for launching Edge in fullscreen.

The only option available is using a shortcut to launch most Windows 10 apps in a dedicated fullscreen mode: Windows-Shift-Enter. This toggles the active Windows 10 app between normal and fullscreen mode.

This shortcut can also be used to run games and apps that normally launch in fullscreen mode but in windowed mode.

Edit: Microsoft followed all other major browsers and now you can use F11 to enter the Fullscreen mode.

Albeit, you can’t toggle it as a default option, but pressing a single key shouldn’t be an issue, now would it?

Microsoft Edge is moving to the Chromium-based platform so we can expect a better experience from the Windows 10 native browser.

Windows 10 full-screen limitations

Unfortunately, the feature has some restrictions and they include the following:

• The shortcut above works for most Windows 10 apps but not for all of them. It seems to be working just fine with Microsoft Edge, Bubble Witch Saga, and Netflix, but it may not work for other apps. It might only work for UWP apps but not for not-UWP apps, such as the ones created for Windows 8.
• You cannot use Esc if you want to exit the fullscreen mode and you don’t have any indications displayed on the screen on how to leave it. You can still use the Alt-Tab combination, though.
• When using the shortcut to run Microsoft Edge in fullscreen mode, the address bar, and the tabs are not going to be displayed. If you want to navigate to other tabs, you can use keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl-Shift-Tab or Ctrl-Tab. You can also use Ctrl-T, in case you want to open a new tab with options for loading a new web address.
• If you middle-click on right-click on certain links, they’ll open in new tabs.

Even if the feature has its limitations, it’s still better to have it at your disposal in case you want to toggle fullscreen mode in Windows 10.

This article will also help you in solving the following issues:

VirtualBox – Exiting Scale or Full Screen Mode in Windows

When using VirtualBox you may at some point enter Scale or Full Screen Mode and then wonder how the hell you get out of it again and get your menu toolbar back!

Well the solution is very simple but not very clear. In the settings you will notice that mentioned a lot is the Host+(something) key. One of these key presses is to exit scale or full mode which is Host+C or you can use Host+Home to bring up the menu bar and then you can click the View menu option and change the settings.

But – what if you are using a Windows machine – what the hell is the Host key. Well, the Host key on a Windows machine is actually the Right Ctrl key (unless you have manually reconfigured the shortcut keys). So you can go ahead and press the Right Ctrl + C to exit these modes.

So what other Host key presses can I use in VirtualBox?

Well, below is a few key presses that you can use and some that you may want to avoid. We have seen people desperately pressing multiple keys to try and exit scale mode and ending up shutting their virtual machine down – usually followed by a number of expletives!

Name	Key Press
Host Key Combo	Right Ctrl
ACPI Shutdown	Right Ctrl+H
Adjust Windows Size	Right Ctrl+A
Full Screen Mode	Right Ctrl+F
Insert ALT-CTRL-DEL	Right Ctrl+Del
Minimise Window	Right Ctrl+M
Pop-Up Toolbar Menu	Right Ctrl+Home
Reset Virutal Machine	Right Ctrl+R
Scaled Mode	Right Ctrl+C
Seamless Mode	Right Ctrl+L
Settings	Right Ctrl+S
Take Screenshot	Right Ctrl+E
Take Snapshot	Right Ctrl+T

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